Sunday, 23 August 2015

I've finished my Black Adder Scarab Miniature Figures. What fun they were to paint and I really like the finished article.

Edmund himself with Balders in the background.

Baldrick complete with dead rat!

George with cricket bat.

General Melchett in typical pose.

Captain Darling.

General Melchett's Drinks cabinet (so you can move it closer to Berlin, I guess!).

Driver "Bob".

And last but by no means least, Lord Flasheart. Actually their "Downed Pilot" figure with the addition of a putty moustache.

The sculpting was such that the figures were simplicity itself to paint well. There was so much exaggerated detail for the sepia wash to settle in and for highlights to be picked out, that you can't go wrong.

Whilst looking for reference/inspiration pictures on the Internet, I stumbled upon Battle Flag's 28mm vignette capturing that immortal moment when Edmund, George, Darling and Baldrick finally "Go over the top". This is a lovely little piece for £15.95 (£1 going to an armed forces charity) comprising of a three tier mdf plinth, cast resin trench top/no-mans land base (with cut outs for figures) a length of shell damaged barbed wire and four figures in white metal. Needless to say this will be my next distraction......

Sunday, 16 August 2015

Finally finished the Kickstarter General Figures today. Pictures aren't the best (iPhone) but they should help as a painting guide with colours.

The source material I used was all from the Internet.

A variety of sources, all cut and pasted into PowerPoint and printed off.

Starting from top left, the British General in service dress.

Next the German Field Marshall.

The French General in Horizon Blue.

The U.S. General in his overcoat/raincoat.

The Russian General with red striped blue trousers.

Austrian General in a more blue uniform rather than field grey.

Italian Gereralisimo in field grey.

And last but no means least, the Turkish General with his grey furry fez!

So there you go. These were a nice distraction from the usual stuff. I guess as time goes on and the supplements for the game start to appear, there may be a role for these figures. But for now they're just nice to haves.

Split between four different blocks of the same school. It had a mixture of demo games, traders and competitions on the go. There was a lovely Waterloo re fight demo which was nice to keep popping back to every so often.

Some very nice terrain for what I think was a pulp type game.

And some 28mm WW1 terrain with nicely painted figures.

Personally I thought the mix of traders was a bit weak. There was nothing really new on sales and many were trying to sell the same things (4Ground, Perry and a Warlord plastics etc)

The bring and buy was large and we'll run, but I think people's expectations of their 2nd hand stuff's value is too high. Very few bargains to be had. Not too bad a show, probably won't go again as it was a good 1:50hr from where we live.

The one thing I came away with was a box of old Prince August 25mm Napoleonic figures.

When I got home I gave them a go. Took all Saturday evening, this is very addictive. I I've started painting the samples I cast from each mould and I'm quite pleased. They're not too bad!

Could really do with some artillery crew figures and some more cavalry, then I could cast up some armies!!

After much humming and hahing I finally decided it would be better to base my Great War Figures.

My thinking behind this was twofold.

1. The based figures are better protected in storage

2. The figures are quicker to move around the board.

The bases are 40x30 2mm mdf from Minibits as are the dice frames and die which will keep track of the casualties and to make the bombardier stand out, I mounted him on a 2mm mdf base too. The bases were textured with sand before painting Vallejo Camoflague Green. Then to tone them down slightly, they had random patches of brown model railway ballast added to represent mud.

I took the same approach with my artillery pieces. In this case the die can be used to indicate the barrage strength. Much nicer than the cards, and will be useful if I ever do WW1 in 15mm!

The Germans got the same treatment. Nice models, simple to make though you need to take care as both have one or two delicate pieces.

Finally, I've nearly finished my metal general figures. Very nice detail in the sculpting, they paint up well. Not sure how useful the more obscure army's figures will be, but nice to have all the same.

Just four sprues to finish now. Two of each side......hopefully I'll find the time before I get diverted on to something else....

About Me

I’ve been wargaming since I was 14 when I was first introduced to WRG’s Ancient Rules by a friend at school. I have tried just about every period in history + Sci-Fi & Fantasy gaming - but I guess my favourite period is still WW2. My favourite rules are Warmaster and all its derivatives (i.e. BKC, CWC, FWC, Black Powder, Hail Caesar, Pike & Shotte etc.).....mainly because the WM mechanism is simple for someone my age to remember!
I’m also a keen amateur military historian. Researching my family’;s activities in times of war and visiting the sites where it all took place.